Crossroads
by Inferni
Summary: It's the night before the final battle with Galcian and Ramirez, but while the rest of Crescent Isle sleeps, Vyse finds himself wrestling with a new outlook. Oneshot.


_Try not to break too many hearts…_

Vyse the Legend snorted, spinning another empty loqua bottle on his desk. Hours ago, he'd been ignorant to those words, questioning them as much as Belleza's unexplained desire to depart. But now, he couldn't claim innocence anymore.

Just across from his cabin lay the rooms of his two greatest friends, their dreams sweet and sugarplumed with images of their crush embracing and loving them. The deliverer of their comforted minds couldn't gain such respite though.

The air pirate snatched another bottle from under his desk, eyeing the symbol of the Blue Moon stamped over the glass. Yafutoman Loqua was known more than any other country (Only recently, since the territory had been discovered practically a month ago, by him no less) for it's potency in intoxication, which is exactly why Vyse favored it right now. He wanted to drown his heart in the buzz steadily growing in his ears.

He stopped as the bottle touched his lips however, setting it back down gently as musings crossed his mind. It was the night before his greatest battle, and though he was afraid it wasn't of Galcian or even Ramirez. No, the choice before him now was so difficult because it just didn't seem to have a solution.

He'd never been one to have an obstacle he couldn't overcome before, and yet he sat here simpering like Don before he'd given him a speech about giving up. Karma was truly brutal in its vengeance. He, Captain Vyse the Legend, had never felt or been brought low enough to seem so… _human_.

He capped the juice and rolled it across his desk to where the other empty bottles lay in a pile, crossing his arms and laying his clouded head softly atop them. Belleza's words continued to echo in his head, keeping the haze from taking his mind to the land of black bliss.

_Try not to break too many hearts…_

_Try not to break too many hearts…_

_Try not to break too many hearts…_

"Shut up," he growled, "I don't need you to recap the shituation." He pulled his arms out from under his head and placed his palms over his ears, as if it could keep out the voice coming from inside his head. But the 4th Admiral's spirit would not stop its torment, forcing the Captain into the review he so desperately wanted to avoid.

* * *

_It all came so naturally._

_One minute they were standing there, enjoying the moonlight, and suddenly his arm moved of its own accord, wrapping around her waist. Fina tensed at first, but she immediately relaxed and leaned in on his shoulder. She murmured about her fears for facing Ramirez, and how she knew she could face him as long as Vyse was by her side._

_Gazing into those big green eyes, he saw so much and all so quickly. Warmth, Kindness, Affection…_

_Love._

* * *

_It all happened so suddenly._

"_I feel so much better now. Maybe I'll be able to get some sleep."_

"_Alright…" he said, still gazing out at the shore, still dazed by what he had felt so close to Fina, and what it had stirred in him. "I'll see you tomorrow…"_

"…_Okay."_

_Was that disappointment he heard? He blinked for a moment, wondering why she suddenly had spoken so mellowly when he felt a warm, moist touch on his cheek, just below where Piastol gave him his scar. His nutmeg eyes darted to the left to see Aika leaning in, eyes closed… kissing him?!_

_As quick as it was, she jumped back, a wide smile on her face with a blush creeping up the side._

"_Thanks, Vyse. We're going to make history tomorrow!"_

* * *

Aika and Fina… Fina and Aika… Why couldn't he have them both?

He stopped at the thought, letting himself have a pleasant smirk at the face the Red-Head would give him at _that _suggestion. Fina would then probably innocently ask: "Ummm… Vyse, what is Bigamy?" It would have been a beautiful memory.

But he couldn't play games like that with them though. It was too cruel, not after how much they'd opened their hearts to him tonight. Hell, they'd practically ripped them from their chests and handed them to him, to crush or cradle as he would. He wanted to care for them both desperately, but that was about as fair as just picking one of them.

Vyse took a moment to balance the two out, and try to understand why his adolescent hormones had just come crashing back into his brain like a Moonstone Meteor. First, there was Fina. The sweetest, and most innocent girl he had ever met. She could probably even forgive Galcian of his crimes if he sought redemption without a second thought. The Silvite was a lady through and through, and he could think of no man who would or could be unhappy with her as a bride.

Then there was Aika. She had fire and passion, and hearty lust for treasure and adventure. He'd known her all his life, they'd grown up almost in the same family the way the Dynes had adopted the hyper girl after her parents had passed away. They were identical in almost every respect, and nigh inseparable. As an Air Pirate, he saw that no matter how many jewels and gold the world may hold, she would always be his greatest treasure.

The Delphinus' Captain remembered once saying that "Impossible is just a word that people use to feel good about themselves when they quit". Now, he disagreed. If there was ever a situation that felt impossible, this was it. No matter what he did, at least one of them was going to end up hurt. Maybe both. And definitely him. He didn't want to strain the friendship of anyone in their group, but if the girls kept at it then it was going to become an inevitability.

His hands shaking from his overindulgence in distilled fruit drinks, The Legendary Air Pilot shuffled his hands in his desk for parchment and a pen, and began to draw sloppy and drunken diagrams to try and help him make a choice. After failing, he just began writing all his anger at the situation on the paper, a torrent of anger, frustration, and anger spilling onto the parchment in a vomit of thoughts. After scribbling all down the page, he found himself looking at surprisingly good solution.

It was a speech – of sorts. It described all the troubles his heart was facing, and how he simply couldn't bring himself to pick either of the girls as a mate. It would be a bold move to read this to them, and might even get a few tears from Fina, but at least it would bring him some peace. And that was something he desperately needed for the assault he would lead tomorrow.

_Tomorrow…_ He'd tell them then. It was the solution. Gently, he tucked the sloppy scratches of paper into a drawer and threw his shirt on the ground. Climbing into bed, he remained certain of his course. _Tomorrow… I tell them_.

He never did.


End file.
